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24 - Commentary on The Book of Genesis · Philosophy and Faith

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Speaker 1: Chapter twenty one. In this chapter we have Roman one, Isaac,
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Speaker 1: the child of Promise, born into Abraham's family, Verses one
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Speaker 1: to eight. Roman two, Ishmael, the son of the bond woman,
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Speaker 1: cast out of it Verses nine to twenty one. Roman three.
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Speaker 1: Abraham's league with his neighbor a Bimelech Verses twenty two,
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Speaker 1: two thirty two. Roman four. His devotion to his God
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Speaker 1: Verse thirty three. The birth of Isaac b. C. Eighteen
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Speaker 1: ninety seven, Verses one two eight. And the Lord visited
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Speaker 1: Sarah as he had said. And the Lord did unto
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Speaker 1: Sarah as he had spoken. For Sarah conceived and bare
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Speaker 1: Abraham a son in his old age, at the set
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Speaker 1: time of which God had spoken to him. And Abraham
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Speaker 1: called the name of his son that was born unto him,
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Speaker 1: whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac. And Abraham circumcised his son, Isaac,
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Speaker 1: being eight days old, as God had commanded him. And
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Speaker 1: Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac
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Speaker 1: was born unto him. And Sarah said, God hath made
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Speaker 1: me to laugh, so that all that here will laugh
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Speaker 1: with me. And she said, who would have said unto
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Speaker 1: Abraham that Sarah should have given children suck, for I
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Speaker 1: have borne him a son in his old age. And
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Speaker 1: the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a
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Speaker 1: great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned. Long
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Speaker 1: looked for, comes at last. The vision concerning the promised
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Speaker 1: seed is for an appointed time, and now at the
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Speaker 1: end it speaks and does not lie. Few under the
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Speaker 1: Old Testament were brought into the world with such expectation
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Speaker 1: as Isaac was. Not for the sake of any great
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Speaker 1: person eminence at which he was to arrive, but because
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Speaker 1: he was to be, in this very thing a type
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Speaker 1: of Christ, that seed which the Holy God had so
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Speaker 1: long promised and holy men so long expected. In this
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Speaker 1: account of the first days of Isaac, we may observe
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Speaker 1: roman Ie the fulfilling of God's promise in the conception
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Speaker 1: and birth of Isaac Verses one and two. Note God's
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Speaker 1: providences look best and brightest when they are compared with
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Speaker 1: His word, and when we observe how God in them
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Speaker 1: all acts as he has said, as he has spoken. One.
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Speaker 1: Isaac was born according to the promise. The Lord visited
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Speaker 1: Sarah in mercy, as he had said. Note no word
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Speaker 1: of God shall fall to the ground. For he is
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Speaker 1: faithful that has promised, and God's faithfulness is the stay
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Speaker 1: and support of his people's faith. He was born at
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Speaker 1: the set time of which God had spoken. Verse two.
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Speaker 1: Note God is always punctual to his time. Though his
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Speaker 1: promised mercies come not at the time we set, they
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Speaker 1: will certainly come at the time he sees, and that
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Speaker 1: is the best time. Two. He was born by virtue
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Speaker 1: of the promise. Sarah, by faith, received strength to conceive
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Speaker 1: Hebrews chapter eleven, Verse eleven. God therefore, by promise, gave
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Speaker 1: that strength. It was not by the power of common providence,
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Speaker 1: but by the power of a special promise, that Isaac
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Speaker 1: was born. A sentence of death was as it were
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Speaker 1: passed upon the second causes, Abraham was old and Sarah old,
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Speaker 1: and both as good as dead, And then the word
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Speaker 1: of God took place. Note true believers, by virtue of
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Speaker 1: God's promises, are unabled to do that which is above
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Speaker 1: the power of human nature, for by them they partake
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Speaker 1: of a divine nature. Tewod Peter Chapter one, verse four,
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Speaker 1: Roman two. Abraham's obedience to God's precept concerning Isaac. One
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Speaker 1: he named him as God commanded him. Verse three. God
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Speaker 1: directed him to a name for a memorial Isaac laughter,
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Speaker 1: and Abraham, whose office it was, gave him that name,
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Speaker 1: though he might have designed some other name of a
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Speaker 1: more pompous signification. Note it is fit that the luxuriancy
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Speaker 1: of human intervention should always yield to the sovereignty and
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Speaker 1: plainness of divine institution. Yet there was good reason for
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Speaker 1: the name for Sub one. When Abraham received the promise
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Speaker 1: of him, he laughed for joy. Chapter seventeen, Verse seventeen.
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Speaker 1: Note when the son of comfort has risen upon the soul,
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Speaker 1: it is good to remember how welcome the dawning of
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Speaker 1: the day was, and with what exultation we embraced the promise.
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Speaker 1: Sub two. When Sarah received the promise, she laughed with
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Speaker 1: distrust and diffidence. Note when God gives us the mercies
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Speaker 1: we begin to despair of We ought to remember with
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Speaker 1: sorrow and shame our sinful distrusts of God's power and
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Speaker 1: promise when we were in pursuit of them. Sub three.
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Speaker 1: Isaac was himself afterwards laughed at by Ishmael verse nine,
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Speaker 1: and perhaps his name bade him expect it. Note God's
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Speaker 1: favorites are often the world's laughing stocks. S four. The promise,
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Speaker 1: which he was not only the sun but the heir of,
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Speaker 1: was to be the joy of all the saints in
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Speaker 1: all ages, and that which would fill their mouths with laughter.
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Speaker 1: Two he circumcised him verse four, the covenant being established
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Speaker 1: with him, the seal of the Covenant was administered to him.
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Speaker 1: And though a bloody ordinance, and he a darling, yet
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Speaker 1: it must not be omitted, no nor deferred beyond the
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Speaker 1: eighth day. God had kept time in performing the promise,
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Speaker 1: and therefore Abraham must keep time in obeying the precept.
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Speaker 1: Roman three. The impressions which this mercy made upon Sarah one,
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Speaker 1: it filled her with joy. Verse six. God has made
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Speaker 1: me to laugh. He has given me both cause to
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Speaker 1: rejoice and a heart to rejoice. Thus the mother of
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Speaker 1: our lord Luke Chapter one, Verses forty six and forty seven.
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Speaker 1: Note Sub one. God bestows mercies upon his people to
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Speaker 1: encourage their joy in his work and service. And whatever
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Speaker 1: is the matter of our joy, God must be acknowledged
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Speaker 1: as the author of it, unless it be the laughter
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Speaker 1: of the fool. Sub two. When mercies have been long deferred,
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Speaker 1: they are the more welcome when they come. Sub three.
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Speaker 1: It adds to the comfort of any mercy, to have
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Speaker 1: our friends rejoice with us in it all that here
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Speaker 1: will laugh with me, for laughing is catching see Luke,
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Speaker 1: chapter one, verse fifty eight. Others will rejoice in this
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Speaker 1: instance of God's power and goodness and be encouraged to
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Speaker 1: trust in Him see Psalm one hundred and nineteen, verse
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Speaker 1: seventy four. Two. It filled her with wonder verse seven.
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Speaker 1: Observe here sub one what it was she thought so
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Speaker 1: wonderful that Sarah should give children suck, that she should
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Speaker 1: not only bear a child, but be so strong and
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Speaker 1: hearty at the age as to give it suck. Note Mothers,
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Speaker 1: if they be able, ought to be nurses to their
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Speaker 1: own children. Sarah was a person of quality, was aged.
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Speaker 1: Nursing might be thought prejudicial of herself or to the child,
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Speaker 1: or to both. She had the choice of nurses, no
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Speaker 1: doubt in her own family, and yet she would do
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Speaker 1: her duty in this matter, and her daughters the good
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Speaker 1: wives are while they thus do well. First Peter chapter three,
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Speaker 1: verses five and six. See Lamentations chapter four, verse three,
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Speaker 1: s two. How she expressed her wonder Who would have
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Speaker 1: said it? The thing was so highly improbable, so near
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Speaker 1: to impossible that if any one but God had said it,
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Speaker 1: we could not have believed it. Note God's favors to
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Speaker 1: his covenant people are such as surpass both their own
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Speaker 1: and other's thoughts and expectations. Who could imagine that God
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Speaker 1: should do so much for those that deserve so little,
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Speaker 1: nay for those that deserve so ill see Ephesians chapter three,
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Speaker 1: verse twenty second Samuel chapter seven, verses eighteen nineteen. Who
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Speaker 1: would have said that God should send his son to
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Speaker 1: die for us, his spirit to sanctify us, his angels
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Speaker 1: to attend us. Who would have said that such great
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Speaker 1: sins should be pardoned, such mean service excepted, and such
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Speaker 1: worthless worms taken into covenant and communion with the Great
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Speaker 1: and Holy God. Roman four A short account of Isaac's infancy.
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Speaker 1: The child grew verse eight. Special notice is taken of this,
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Speaker 1: though a thing, of course, to intimate that the children
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Speaker 1: of the promise are growing children. See Luke chapter one,
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Speaker 1: verse eighty, Chapter two, verse forty. Those that are born
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Speaker 1: of God shall increase of God. Colossians chapter two, verse nineteen.
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Speaker 1: He grew so as not always to need milk, but
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Speaker 1: was able to bear strong meat, And then he was
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Speaker 1: weaned see Hebrews chapter five, verses thirteen fourteen. And then
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Speaker 1: it was that Abraham made a great feast for his
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Speaker 1: friends and neighbors, in thankfulness to God for his mercy
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Speaker 1: to him. He made this feast not on the day
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Speaker 1: that Isaac was born. That would have been too great
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Speaker 1: a disturbance to Sarah, nor on the day that he
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Speaker 1: was circumcised, that would have been too great a diversion
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Speaker 1: from the ordinance, but on the day that he was weaned.
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Speaker 1: Because God's blessing upon the nursing of children and the
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Speaker 1: preservation of them throughout the perils of the infant age
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Speaker 1: are a signal instances of the care and tenderness of
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Speaker 1: the divine providence, which ought to be acknowledged to its praise.
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Speaker 1: See Psalm twenty two, verses ninety ten. Hoseiah chapter eleven,
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Speaker 1: verse one. Hagar and Ishmael expelled b. C. Eighteen ninety two,
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Speaker 1: verses nine to thirteen. And Sarah saw the son of Hagar,
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Speaker 1: the Egyptian, which he had borne unto Abraham, mocking. Wherefore
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Speaker 1: she said, unto Abraham, cast out this bond woman and
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Speaker 1: her son, for the son of this bond woman shall
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Speaker 1: not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. And
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Speaker 1: the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight because of
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Speaker 1: his son. And God said unto Abraham, let it not
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Speaker 1: be grievous in thy sight because of the lad and
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Speaker 1: because of thy bond woman. In all that, Sarah hath
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Speaker 1: said unto thee hearken under her voice, For in Isaac
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Speaker 1: shall thy seed be called. And also of the son
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Speaker 1: of the bondwoman, I will make a nation, because he
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Speaker 1: is thy seed. The casting out of Ishmael is here
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Speaker 1: considered of and resolved on Roman I. Ishmael himself gave
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Speaker 1: the occasion by some affronts he gave to Isaac, his
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Speaker 1: little brother. Some think on the day that Abraham made
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Speaker 1: the feast for joy, that Isaac was safely weaned, which
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Speaker 1: the Jews say was not till he was three years old.
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Speaker 1: Others say five. Sarah herself was an eye witness of
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Speaker 1: the abuse. She saw the son of the Egyptian mocking
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Speaker 1: verse nine, mocking Isaac no doubt, for it is said
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Speaker 1: with reference to this Galatians chapter four, verse twenty nine,
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Speaker 1: that he that was born after the flesh persecuted him,
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Speaker 1: that was born after the spirit Ishmael is here called
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Speaker 1: the son of the Egyptian because, as some think, the
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Speaker 1: four hundred years affliction of the seed of Abraham by
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Speaker 1: the Egyptians began now and was to be dated. Hence
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Speaker 1: a chapter fifteen, verse thirteen. She saw him playing with
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Speaker 1: Isaac so the seventy and in playing mocking him. Ishmael
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Speaker 1: was fourteen years older than Isaac, and when children are together,
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Speaker 1: the elders should be careful and tender of the younger.
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Speaker 1: But it is argued a very base and sordid disposition
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Speaker 1: in Ishmael to be abusive to a child that was
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Speaker 1: in no way a match for him. Note One, God
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Speaker 1: takes notice of what children say and do in their play,
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Speaker 1: and will reckon with them if they say or do
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Speaker 1: amiss their parents do not. Two. Mocking is a great
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Speaker 1: sin and very provoking to God. Three there is a rooted,
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Speaker 1: remaining enmity in the seed of the serpent against the
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Speaker 1: seed of the woman. The children of Promise must expect
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Speaker 1: to be mocked. This is persecution which those that will
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Speaker 1: live godly must count upon. Four. None are rejected and
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Speaker 1: cast out from God, but those who have first deserved it.
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Speaker 1: Ishmael is continued in Abraham's family till he becomes a disturbance,
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Speaker 1: grief and scandal to it. Roman, too, Sarah made the
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Speaker 1: motion cast out this bond woman verse ten. This seems
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Speaker 1: to be spoken in some heat, yet it is quoted
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Speaker 1: Galatians chapter four, verse thirty, as if it had been
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Speaker 1: spoken by a spirit of prophecy. And it is the
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Speaker 1: sentence passed on all hypocrites and carnal people, though they
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Speaker 1: have a place and a name in the Visible Church,
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Speaker 1: all that are born after the flesh and not born again,
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Speaker 1: that rest in the law and reject the Gospel promise
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Speaker 1: shall certainly be cast out. It is made to point
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Speaker 1: particularly at the rejection of the unbelieving Jews, who, though
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Speaker 1: they were the seat of Abraham, yet because they submitted
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Speaker 1: not to the Gospel Covenant, were unchurched and disenfranchised. And
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Speaker 1: that which, above anything provoked God to cast them off
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Speaker 1: was their mocking and persecuting the Gospel Church, God's Isaac
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Speaker 1: in its infancy. First Thessalonians chapter two, verse sixteen note
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Speaker 1: there are many who are familiarly conversant with the children
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Speaker 1: of God in this world, and yet shall not partake
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Speaker 1: with them in the inheritance of the sons. Ishmael might
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Speaker 1: be Isaac's playfellow and his schoolfellow, and yet not his
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Speaker 1: fellow heir Roman three. Abraham was adverse to it. The
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Speaker 1: thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight, Verse eleven. One.
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Speaker 1: It grieved him that Ishmael had given such a provocation.
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Speaker 1: Note children ought to consider that the more their parents
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Speaker 1: love them, the more they are grieved at their misconduct,
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Speaker 1: and particularly at their quarrels among themselves. Two. He grieved
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Speaker 1: him that Sarah insisted upon such a punishment. Might it
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Speaker 1: not suffice to correct him? Would nothing less serve than
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Speaker 1: to expel him? Note Even the needful extremities which must
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Speaker 1: be used with wicked and incorrigible children are very grievous
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Speaker 1: to tender parents, who cannot thus afflict willingly. Roman iv.
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Speaker 1: God determined it Verses twelve and thirteen. We may well
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Speaker 1: suppose Abraham to be greatly agitated about this matter, loathe
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Speaker 1: to displease Sarah, and yet loathe to expel Ishmael. In
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Speaker 1: this difficulty, God tells him what his will is, and
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Speaker 1: then he is satisfied. Note a good man desires no
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Speaker 1: more in doubtful cases than to know his duty and
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Speaker 1: what God would have him do. And when he is
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Speaker 1: clear in this, he is or should be easy to
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Speaker 1: make Abraham. So God sets this matter before him in
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Speaker 1: a true light and shows him one that the casting
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Speaker 1: out of Ishmael was necessary to the establishment of Isaac.
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Speaker 1: In the rights and privileges of the Covenant. In Isaac,
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Speaker 1: shall thy seed be called Both Christ and the Church
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Speaker 1: must descend from Abraham through the loins of Isaac. This
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Speaker 1: is the entail of the promise upon Isaac, and is
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Speaker 1: quoted by the apostle Romans, chapter nine, verse seven to
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Speaker 1: show that not all who come from Abraham's loins were
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Speaker 1: the heirs of Abraham's covenant. Isaac, the promised son, must
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Speaker 1: be the father to the promised seed. Therefore, away with Ishmael.
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Speaker 1: Send him far enough, lest he corrupt the manners or
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Speaker 1: attempt to invade the rights of Isaac. It will be
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Speaker 1: his security to have his rival banished. The covenant seat
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Speaker 1: of Abraham must be a peculiar people, a people by
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Speaker 1: themselves from the very first, distinguished, not mingled with those
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Speaker 1: that were out of covenant. For this reason, Ishmael must
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Speaker 1: be separated. Abraham was called alone, and so must Isaac.
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Speaker 1: Be see Isaiah chapter fifty one, verse two. It is
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Speaker 1: probable that Sarah thought little of this John chapter eleven,
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Speaker 1: verse fifty one. But God took what she said and
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Speaker 1: turned it into an oracle as afterwards Chapter twenty seven,
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Speaker 1: verse ten two. That the casting out of Ishmael should
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Speaker 1: not be his ruin verse thirteen, he shall be a
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Speaker 1: nation because he is Thy seed. We are not sure
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Speaker 1: that it was his eternal ruin. It is presumption to
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Speaker 1: say that all those who are left out of the
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Speaker 1: external dispensation from all his mercies, those may be saved
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Speaker 1: who are not thus honored. However, we are sure it
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Speaker 1: was not his temporal ruin. Though he was chased out
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Speaker 1: of the church, he was not chased out of the world.
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Speaker 1: I will make him a nation. Note sup One. Nations
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Speaker 1: are of God's making. He founds them, he forms them,
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Speaker 1: he fixes them. Many are full of the blessings of
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Speaker 1: God's providence that are strangers to the blessings of His covenant.
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Speaker 1: Sub Three. Children of this world often fare the better
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Speaker 1: as outward things for their relation to the children of God.
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Speaker 1: God's mercy to Hagar and Ishmael b. C. Eighteen ninety two,
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Speaker 1: Verses fourteen to twenty one. And Abraham rose up early
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Speaker 1: in the morning and took bread and a bottle of water,
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Speaker 1: and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder,
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Speaker 1: and the child, and sent her away. And she departed
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Speaker 1: and wandered in the wilderness of Baersheba, and the water
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Speaker 1: was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child
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Speaker 1: under one of the shrubs, and she went and sat
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Speaker 1: down over against him, a good way off, as it
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Speaker 1: were a bow shot. For she said, let me not
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Speaker 1: see the death of the child. And she sat over
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Speaker 1: against him, and lift up her voice and wept. And
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Speaker 1: God heard the voice of the Lad, and the Angel
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Speaker 1: of God called to Hagar out of heaven and said,
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Speaker 1: unto her, what aileth thee Hagar? Fear not, for God
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Speaker 1: hath heard the voice of the lad where he is arise,
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Speaker 1: Lift up the lad and hold him in thine hand,
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Speaker 1: for I will make him a great nation. And God
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Speaker 1: opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water,
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Speaker 1: and she went and filled the bottle with water and
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Speaker 1: gave the lad drink. And God was with the lad,
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Speaker 1: and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness and became
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Speaker 1: an archer, and he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran,
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Speaker 1: and his mother took him a wife out of the
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Speaker 1: land of Egypt. Here is Roman won the casting out
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Speaker 1: of the bond woman and her son from the family
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Speaker 1: of Abraham Verse fourteen. Abraham's obedience to the divine command
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Speaker 1: in this matter with speedy early in the morning, we
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Speaker 1: may suppose immediately after he had, in the Knight's visions,
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Speaker 1: received orders to do this. It was also submissive. It
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Speaker 1: was contrary to his judgment, at least to his own
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Speaker 1: inclination to do it. Yet as soon as he perceives
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Speaker 1: that it is the mind of God, he makes no objections,
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Speaker 1: but silently does as he is bidden, as one trained
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Speaker 1: up to an implicit obedience, in sending them away without
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Speaker 1: any attendance on foot slenderly provided for, it is probable
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Speaker 1: that he observed the directions given him. If Hagar and
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Speaker 1: Ishmael had conducted themselves well in Abraham's family, they might
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Speaker 1: have continued there. But they threw themselves out by their
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Speaker 1: own pride and insolence, which were thus justly chastised. Note
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Speaker 1: by abusing our privileges, we forfeit them those that know
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Speaker 1: not when they are well off in such a desirable
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Speaker 1: place as Abraham's family deserve to be cashiered and to
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Speaker 1: be made to know the worth of mercies by the
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Speaker 1: want of them roman Io. Their wandering in the wilderness,
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Speaker 1: missing their way to the place Abraham designed them for
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Speaker 1: a settlement one, they were reduced to great distress. There.
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Speaker 1: Their provisions were spent and Ishmael was sick. He that
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Speaker 1: used to be full fed in Abraham's house, where he waxed,
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Speaker 1: fat and kicked, now fainted and sunk when he was
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Speaker 1: brought to short allowance. Hagar is in tears and sufficiently mortified.
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Speaker 1: Now she wishes for the crumbs she had wasted and
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Speaker 1: made light of at her master's table. Like one under
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Speaker 1: the power of the spirit of bondage, she despairs of relief,
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Speaker 1: counts upon nothing but the death the child Verses fifteen
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Speaker 1: and sixteen. Though God had told her before he was
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Speaker 1: born that he should live to be a man, a
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Speaker 1: great man, we are apt to forget former promises when
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Speaker 1: present providences seem to contradict them, for we live by
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Speaker 1: sense two. In this distress, God graciously appeared for their relief.
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Speaker 1: He heard the voice of the lad Verse seventeen. We
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Speaker 1: read not a word he said, but his sighs and groans,
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Speaker 1: and calamitous estate cried aloud in the ears of mercy.
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Speaker 1: An angel was sent to comfort Hagar, and it was
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Speaker 1: not the first time that she had met with God's
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Speaker 1: comforts in a wilderness. She had thankfully acknowledged the former
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Speaker 1: visit which God had made his in such a case
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Speaker 1: Chapter sixteen, verse thirteen. And therefore God now visited her
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Speaker 1: again with seasonable suckers. P. Sub one. The angel assures
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Speaker 1: her of the cognizance God took of her distress. God
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Speaker 1: has heard the voice of the lad where he is,
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Speaker 1: though he is in a wilderness. For wherever we are
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Speaker 1: there is a way open heavenward. Therefore, lift up the
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Speaker 1: lad and hold him in thy hand Verse eighteen. Note
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Speaker 1: God's readiness to help us when we are in trouble
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Speaker 1: must not slacken, but quicken our endeavors to help ourselves.
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Speaker 1: Soup two. He repeats the promise concerning her son, that
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Speaker 1: he should be a great nation, as a reason why
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Speaker 1: she should bestir herself to help him. Note it should
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Speaker 1: engage our care and pains about children and young people
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Speaker 1: to consider that we know not what God has designed
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Speaker 1: for them, nor what great youse Providence may make of them.
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Speaker 1: Stup three, He directs her to a present supply. Nineteen
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Speaker 1: He opens her eyes, which were swollen and almost blinded
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Speaker 1: with weeping, and then she saw a well of water.
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Speaker 1: Note many that have reason enough to be comforted go
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Speaker 1: mourning from day to day because they do not see
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Speaker 1: the reason they have for comfort. There is a well
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Speaker 1: of water by them in the Covenant of Grace, but
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Speaker 1: they are not aware of it. They have not the
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Speaker 1: benefit of it till the same God that opened their
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Speaker 1: eyes to see their wounds opens them to see the remedy.
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Speaker 1: John chapter sixteen, Verses six and seven. Now the apostle
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Speaker 1: tells us that those things concerning Hagar and Ishmael are
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Speaker 1: aligor rumina Galatians chapter four, verse twenty four. They are
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Speaker 1: to be allegorized. This, then, will serve to illustrate the
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Speaker 1: folly one of those who, like the unbelieving Jews, seek
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Speaker 1: for righteousness by the law and the carnal ordinances of it,
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Speaker 1: and not by the promise made in Christ. Thereby running
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Speaker 1: themselves into a wilderness of want and despair. Their comforts
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Speaker 1: are soon exhausted, and if God save them not by
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Speaker 1: his special prerogative and by a miracle of mercy upon
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Speaker 1: their eyes, and undeceive them. They are undone. Two of
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Speaker 1: those who seek for satisfaction and happiness in the world
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Speaker 1: and the things of it, Those that forsake the comforts
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Speaker 1: of the covenant and communion with God, and choose their
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Speaker 1: portion in this earth take up with a bottle of water,
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Speaker 1: poor and slender provision, and that soon spent. They wander
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Speaker 1: endlessly in pursuit of satisfaction, and at length sit down
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Speaker 1: short of it. Rouman three the settlement of Ishmael at
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Speaker 1: last in the wilderness of Paran, Verses twenty and twenty one.
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Speaker 1: A wild place fittest for a wild man, and such
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Speaker 1: a one he was. Chapter sixteen, verse twelve. Those that
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Speaker 1: are born after the flesh take up with the wilderness
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Speaker 1: of this world, while the children of the promise aim
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Speaker 1: at the heavenly Canaan and cannot be at rest till
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Speaker 1: they are there. Observe one. He had some tokens of
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Speaker 1: God's presence. God was with the lad His outward prosperity
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Speaker 1: was owing to this too. By trade, he was an archer,
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Speaker 1: which intimates that craft was his excellency, and sport his
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Speaker 1: business rejected. Esau was a cunning hunter. Three he matched
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Speaker 1: among his mother's relations. She took him a wife out
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Speaker 1: of Egypt. As great an archer as he was, he
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Speaker 1: did not think he could take his aim well in
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Speaker 1: the business of marriage if he proceeded without his mother's
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Speaker 1: advice and consent. A Bimelech's Covenant with Abraham b. C.
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Speaker 1: Eighteen ninety two, Verses twenty two, two thirty two. And
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Speaker 1: it came to pass at that time that Abimelech and Fickal,
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Speaker 1: the chief captain of his host, spake unto Abraham, saying,
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Speaker 1: God is with Thee in all that thou doest. Now
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Speaker 1: therefore swear unto me here by God, that thou wilt
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Speaker 1: not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor
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Speaker 1: with my son's son. But according to the kindness that
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Speaker 1: I have done unto Thee, thou shalt do unto me,
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Speaker 1: and to the land wherein thou hast sojourned. And Abraham said,
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Speaker 1: I will swear. And Abraham reproved a Bimelech because of
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Speaker 1: a well of water which Abimelech's servants had violently taken away.
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Speaker 1: And a Bimelech said I WoT not who hath done
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Speaker 1: this thing. Neither didst thou tell me, neither yet heard
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Speaker 1: I of it. But to day and Abraham took sheep
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Speaker 1: and oxen and gave them unto a Bimelech, and both
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Speaker 1: of them made a covenant. And Abraham set seven eu
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Speaker 1: lambs of the flock by themselves. And a Bimelech said,
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Speaker 1: unto Abraham, what mean thee seven e lambs which thou
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Speaker 1: hast set by themselves? And he said, for these seven
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Speaker 1: you lambs, shalt thou take of my hand, that they
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Speaker 1: may be a witness unto me that I have digged
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Speaker 1: this well. Wherefore he called that place bear Sheba, because
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Speaker 1: there they swore, both of them. Thus they made a
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Speaker 1: covenant Bearsheba. Then Abimelech rose up and Fikaal the chief
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Speaker 1: captain of his host, and they returned to the land
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Speaker 1: of the Philistines. We have here an account of the
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Speaker 1: treaty between Abimelech and Abraham, in which appears the accomplishment
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Speaker 1: of that promise Chapter twelve, verse two, that God would
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Speaker 1: make his name great. His friendship is valued, is courted
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Speaker 1: though a stranger, though a tenant at will to the
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Speaker 1: Canaanites and Perizites Roman I. The league is proposed by
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Speaker 1: Abimelech and Phaikal, his prime minister of state and general
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Speaker 1: of his army. One. The inducement to it was God's
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Speaker 1: favorite Abraham verse twenty two. God is with thee and
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Speaker 1: all that thou doest, and we cannot but take notice
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Speaker 1: of it. Note sub one. God in his providence, sometimes
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Speaker 1: shows his people such tokens for good that their neighbors
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Speaker 1: cannot but take notice of it. Psalm eighty six, verse seventeen.
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Speaker 1: Their affairs do you so visibly prosper? And they have
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Speaker 1: such remarkable success in their undertakings that a confession is
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Speaker 1: extorted from all about them of God's presence with them.
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Speaker 1: So two, it is good being in favor with those
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Speaker 1: that are in favor with God, and having an interest
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Speaker 1: in those that have an interest in heaven. Zachariah chapter eight,
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Speaker 1: verse twenty three. We will go with you, for we
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Speaker 1: have heard that God is with you. We do well
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Speaker 1: for ourselves if we have fellowship with those that have
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Speaker 1: fellowship with God. First John chapter one, verse three two.
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Speaker 1: The tenor of it was in general that there should
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Speaker 1: be a firm and constant friendship between the two families,
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Speaker 1: which should not, upon any account be violated. This bond
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Speaker 1: of friendship must be strengthened by the bond of an oath,
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Speaker 1: in which the True God was appealed to both as
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Speaker 1: a witness of their sincerity and an avenger in case
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Speaker 1: either cyber treacherous. Verse twenty three observed. Sub one, he
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Speaker 1: desires the entail of this league upon his posterity, and
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Speaker 1: the extension of it to his people. He would have
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Speaker 1: his son, and his son's son and his land likewise
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Speaker 1: to have the benefit of it. Good men should secure
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Speaker 1: an alliance and communion with the favorites of Heaven, not
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Speaker 1: for themselves only, but for theirs also. So two. He
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Speaker 1: reminds Abraham of the fair treatment he had found among them,
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Speaker 1: according to the kindness I have done unto thee as
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Speaker 1: those that have received kindness must return it, So those
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Speaker 1: that have shown kindness may expect it roman too. It
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Speaker 1: is consented to by Abraham with a particular clause inserted
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Speaker 1: about a well in Abraham's part of this transaction. Observe one.
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Speaker 1: He was ready to enter into this league with a bimelech,
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Speaker 1: finding him to be a man of honor, and conscience,
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Speaker 1: and that had the fear of God before his eyes,
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Speaker 1: I will swear verse twenty four. Note sub one, religion
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Speaker 1: does not make men morose and unconversible. I am sure
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Speaker 1: it ought not. We must not, under color of shunning
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Speaker 1: bad company, be set to all company and jealous of
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Speaker 1: everybody except two. An honest mind does not startle at
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Speaker 1: giving assurances. If abrahams say that he will be true
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Speaker 1: to Abimelech, he is not afraid to swear it. An
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Speaker 1: oath is for confirmation. Two. He prudently settled the matter
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Speaker 1: concerning a well about which Abemelech's servants had quarreled with him.
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Speaker 1: Whiles of water, it seems, were choice goods in that country.
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Speaker 1: Thanks be to God that they are not so scarce
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Speaker 1: in ours. Ccept One, Abraham mildly told Abimelek of it
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Speaker 1: Verse twenty five. Note, if our brother trespass against us,
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Speaker 1: we must, with the meekest of wisdom, tell him his fault,
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Speaker 1: that the matter may be fairly accommodated and an end
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Speaker 1: made of it. Matthew Chapter eighteen, verse fifteen, Scept. Two.
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Speaker 1: He acquiesced in Abimelech's justification of himself in this matter.
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Speaker 1: I WoT not who has done this thing verse twenty six.
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Speaker 1: Many are suspected of injustice and unkindness that are perfectly innocent,
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Speaker 1: and we ought to be glad when they clear themselves.
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Speaker 1: The faults of servants must not be imputed to their
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Speaker 1: masters unless they know of them and justify them. And
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Speaker 1: no more can be expected from an honest man than
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Speaker 1: that he be ready to do right as soon as
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Speaker 1: he knows that he is done wrong. Sub Three. He
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Speaker 1: took care to have his title to the well cleared
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Speaker 1: and confirmed, to prevent any disputes or quarrels for the
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Speaker 1: future Verse thirty. It is justice as well as wisdom
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Speaker 1: to do this in perpetuum rey e memoriam, that the
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Speaker 1: circumstances may be perpetually remembered. Three He made a very
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Speaker 1: handsome present to Abimelech Verse twenty seven. It was not
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Speaker 1: any curious or fine thing that he presented to him,
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Speaker 1: but that which was valuable and useful. Sheep and oxen
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Speaker 1: in gratitude for Abimelech's kindness to him, and in token
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Speaker 1: of hearty friendship between them. The interchanging of kind offices
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Speaker 1: is the improving of love. That which is mine is
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Speaker 1: my friends four, he ratified the covenant by an oath
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Speaker 1: and registered it by giving a new name to the place.
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Speaker 1: Verse thirty one Bearsheba the well of the Oath in
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Speaker 1: remembrance of the Covenant they swore to that they might
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Speaker 1: be ever mindful of it, or the well of seven
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Speaker 1: in remembrance of the seven lambs, given to a Bimelech
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Speaker 1: as consideration for his confirming Abraham's title to that well.
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Speaker 1: Note Bargain's maid must be remembered, that we may make
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Speaker 1: them good and may not break our word through oversight,
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Speaker 1: Verses thirty three and thirty four. And Abraham planted a
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Speaker 1: grove in Bearsheba and called there on the name of
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Speaker 1: the Lord, the Everlasting God. And Abraham sojourned in the
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Speaker 1: Philistine's land. Many days observed one Abraham, having got into
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Speaker 1: a good neighborhood, knew when he was well off, and
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Speaker 1: continued a great while there. There he planted a grove
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Speaker 1: for a shade to his tent, or perhaps an orchard
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Speaker 1: of fruit trees. And there, though we cannot say, he
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Speaker 1: settled for God. God would have him while he lived
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Speaker 1: be a stranger and a pilgrim. Yet he sojourned many days,
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Speaker 1: as many as would consist with his character as Abraham
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Speaker 1: the Hebrew or passenger. Two. There he made not only
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Speaker 1: a constant practice, but an open profession of his religion.
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Speaker 1: There he called on the name of the Lord, the
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Speaker 1: Everlasting God, probably in the grove he planted, which was
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Speaker 1: his oratory or house of prayer. Christ prayed in a
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Speaker 1: garden on a mountain. Sub One. Abraham kept up public worship,
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Speaker 1: to which probably his neighbors resorted that they might join
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Speaker 1: with him. Note good men should not only retain their
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Speaker 1: goodness wherever they go, but do all they can to
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Speaker 1: propagate it and make others good. Sub two. In calling
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Speaker 1: on the Lord, we must eye him as the Everlasting God,
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Speaker 1: the God of the world. So some though God had
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Speaker 1: made himself known to Abraham as his God in particular
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Speaker 1: and in covenant with him, yet he forgets not to
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Speaker 1: give glory to him as the Lord of all, the
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Speaker 1: everlasting God, who was before all worlds and will be
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Speaker 1: when time and days shall be no more. See Isaiah
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Speaker 1: chapter forty, verse twenty eight, end of chapter twenty one.